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12:45 PM ET, December 15, 2009

Techmeme

 Top Items: 
bit.ly blog:
Announcing bit.ly Pro  —  Today we're pleased to announce a new service: bit.ly Pro.  The Pro service provides custom short URLs powered by bit.ly.  Publishers and bloggers will be able to use their own short domain names to point to pages on their sites.  —  As part of our initial beta program …
RELATED:
The Official Google Blog:
Making URLs shorter for Google Toolbar and FeedBurner  —  This morning, we launched updated versions of the Google Toolbar and FeedBurner that offer a new URL shortening service from Google called the Google URL Shortener.  We mentioned our URL shortener as a feature in both announcements …
Eric Eldon / Inside Facebook:
Facebook Testing New URL Shortener, fb.me  —  URL shorteners, like bit.ly, have become a popular way for people to share links on Twitter while taking up as few of the allotted 140 characters as possible.  But saving space is just one of the benefits that shorteners provide.
Robin Wauters / MobileCrunch:
Android Market grows up, hits 20,000 apps milestone  —  Rest assured that 2010 is going to be a big year for the Android operating system, with many new handsets finding their way to stores around the world (including Google's own phone) and an increasing number of developers building tools …
New York Times:
Author Grants Exclusive E-Book Rights to Amazon  —  Ever since electronic books emerged as a major growth market, New York's largest publishing houses have worried that big-name authors might sign deals directly with e-book retailers or other new ventures, bypassing traditional publishers entirely.
Gregg Keizer / Computerworld:
Chrome Mac, Linux betas push browser into No. 3 spot  —  Passes Safari, may beat Firefox at its own game on Linux  —  Computerworld - The release last week of betas of Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux pushed the Google browser's share past Apple's Safari and into the No. 3 spot, a Web measurement company said today.
Liam Cassidy / TheAppleBlog:
The Nexus One: A Non-Story  —  Over the weekend the rumors of a Google Phone were confirmed in the guise of the whimsically named Nexus One.  It's an unbranded HTC-made carrier-unlocked handset running Android 2.0, and it looks lovely.  And already articles have popped-up examining its various …
Discussion: Engadget and Android and Me
Jesse Engle / CoTweet:
A Word About Twitter Commercial Accounts  —  Many people have asked us about Twitter's planned commercial account offering and what it means for CoTweet.  Twitter has been planning for commercial accounts for a long time.  Today Anamitra Banerji from Twitter's Product Team posted to their blog …
RELATED:
HardMac.com:
Details concerning the Xeon processors with 6 cores  —  New information shown by Intel lets us learn some more on the future Intel processors in 6 cores engraved in 32 nm that we soon expect to see equipping the Mac Pro.  To start, contrary to the forecasts, these processors will keep the name of Core i7 and will not be called Core i9.
Thomas Ricker / Engadget:
Toshiba announces 64GB NAND packages: Apple winks, gives a nudge  —  Outside of the occasional leaked roadmap, one of the best ways to predict the future of consumer electronics is by looking at the evolution of the components within.  Take this Toshiba NAND package for instance.
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM:
Is Bandwidth.com the Future of VoIP and Voice?  —  Bandwidth.com, despite having a name only a late '90s investor could love, has built a profitable all-IP network and expects to bring in $85 million in sales this year.  Today it also is announcing that it's opening up its network as a platform …
Discussion: VentureBeat and ReadWriteWeb
Esteban Kozak / The LinkedIn Blog:
Find people faster with LinkedIn's new faceted search  —  Here at LinkedIn, we believe that people search is one of the most valuable new areas of search technology.  Late last year, we announced the launch of the new people search platform, rebuilt from the ground up.
RELATED:
Stan Schroeder / Mashable!:
Facebook Could Learn a Thing or Two From LinkedIn's Faceted Search
MG Siegler / TechCrunch:
The Wall Opens A Bit More: Facebook To Publish User Updates To Twitter This Week  —  A lot has been said recently about Facebook's decision to re-write its privacy rulebook to encourage users to be more open about what they share.  Privacy implications aside, at least it appears that Facebook is eating its own dogfood.
Discussion: Inside Facebook
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Comcast Launches Its “TV Everywhere” Plan Nationwide, with An Awful Name: Say Hello to “Xfinity”  —  As promised, Comcast (CMCSA) is opening up the trial of its “TV Everywhere” program, which gives its subscribers — but only its subscribers — access to extra TV programming, streamed via the Web.
Jim Dalrymple / The Loop:
Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, others sued for patent infringement  —  BetaNet on Monday filed a lawsuit against 18 companies, including Apple, Adobe and Microsoft.  —  Filed in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, the lawsuit claims the companies violate the '134 patent, entitled …
Julie Haviv / Reuters:
Zillow launches rental listings and search service  —  Real estate website Zillow.com, one of the most popular vehicles for U.S. home sales searches, on Tuesday said it expanded its services to include the rental market.  —  Zillow.com added a rental listings and search to its home shopping service …
Discussion: Screenwerk, VentureBeat and TechFlash
Dan Goodin / The Register:
Google's reCAPTCHA busted by new attack  —  Significant success rate  —  A security researcher has devised a successful attack on a Google-owned system for blocking malicious scripts on web-based email services and other types of sites.  —  The attack, described in a paper released Saturday …
Discussion: FierceCIO News
Joseph Tartakoff / paidContent:
AlikeList Raises $5 Million For Local Business Reviews Site  —  A new local business reviews site has raised $5 million in a funding round from Syncom Venture Partners.  The startup, AlikeList, is trying to distinguish itself from existing competitors by making its recommendations more personal.
Discussion: Screenwerk, VentureBeat and silicontap.com, Thanks:geekychic
Randolph J. May / Washington Times:
Voiding the Constitution  —  FCC rules could counter freedom of speech  —  The Federal Communications Commission has proposed new regulations to force broadband Internet service providers (ISPs) like Time Warner and Verizon to adhere to “net neutrality” mandates.
Discussion: DSLreports and The Precursor Blog
AndroidGuys:
Developers Waste Little Time Porting Android 2.1 to Droid  —  In a move that comes as little surprise, some crafty developers have managed to extract Android 2.1 from a Nexus One handset to port it to the Motorola Droid.  Does it work?  Yes and no. According to comments left by the devs, it's buggy at best.
Google Code Blog:
Google Fusion Tables API  —  Today I'm excited to announce that Google Fusion Tables is releasing its own API.  —  What is Fusion Tables?  A product launched recently in Google Labs, Fusion Tables is a free service for sharing and visualizing data online.
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb, InfoWorld, CloudAve and ProgrammableWeb, Thanks:atul
David Diaz / TechCrunch:
DEMO Winner Liaise Opens Doors, Debuts Mobile And Team Services  —  The winner of DEMO's enterprise category and people's choice award, Liaise, is moving from private to open beta by launching their much anticipated mobile calendar integration and introducing their Team Services platform.
Discussion: VentureBeat, ReadWriteWeb and VatorNews
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Facebook For Android Just Got A Big Upgrade, Is Catching Up To Its iPhone Cousin  —  For quite a while now now, one of the biggest problems with Android has been its app support.  In particular, the Facebook application has been quite limited: you could read your News Feed …
Eric Lai / Computerworld:
The Grill: Microsoft's Chris Capossela on Google, Twitter and that Blue Screen of Death  —  Microsoft Office marketing chief talks about plans to beat Google Apps, adding Twitter-like features to Office, and the now-infamous BSOD … You've only worked at two places in your life: Microsoft and your dad's restaurant.
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Ebooks For Dummies: Wiley Joins 150 Publishers In The Scribd Store  —  Book publishers are increasingly embracing digital books, and not just on Amazon's Kindle.  Today, John Wiley and Sons, Barnes and Noble imprint Sterling Publishing, Chronicle Books, and the University of Chicago Press announced …
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Paramount to Start Online Service to Sell Movie Clips  —  LOS ANGELES — Paramount Pictures, looking for new ways to turn its old movies into cash, especially as DVD sales continue to decline, is creating an online video clip service that will allow users to search hundreds of feature films on a frame-by-frame basis.
Discussion: NewTeeVee and Gizmodo
Colin Gibbs / GigaOM:
Verizon's Affair With Wi-Fi Heats Up  —  Verizon Wireless's love affair with Wi-Fi heated up again today with the carrier's announcement that its broadband subscribers can now connect to thousands of hotspots in North America at no additional charge.  Subscribers with Verizon laptop cards …
Discussion: PR Newswire and Electronista
Brian Garner / AppleInsider:
Apple named ‘Brand of the Decade’ by Adweek  —  Apple received top honors in six categories in Adweek's “Best of the 2000s” advertising awards, including “Brand of the Decade” and “Marketer of the Decade” for Steve Jobs.  —  Naming Apple the “Brand of the Decade,” AdweekMedia attributes …
Ars Technica:
iPhone and Snow Leopard Server's failure to communicate  —  Imagine if the iPod worked with a Windows machine but not on a Mac.  Would make zero sense, right?  Amazingly, this scenario describes the current reality with the iPhone and Apple's server edition of its Mac OS X operating system.
Discussion: The iPhone Blog
 
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 More Items: 
Alex Williams / ReadWriteWeb:
MindTouch and SnapLogic: Another Affordable Way to Fit Information Together
Discussion: eWeek and What's New
Ina Fried / CNET News:
Microsoft's server chief talks cloud (Q&A)
Janko Roettgers / NewTeeVee:
House Committee Takes on Live-streaming Piracy
Om Malik / GigaOM:
8 Years Later, the Blogging Goes On
Thanks:atul
Donald Melanson / Engadget:
University of Antwerp stuffs 13 GPUs into FASTRA II supercomputer
 Earlier Items: 
Leena Rao / TechCrunch:
Zoho Reports Steps Out Of Beta With Pricing Model And New Features
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Gamer population surges — consoles in 60% of households
Mark Walsh / MediaPost:
Verizon Debuts Media Manager Tool
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney confirms pulling a transgender storyline from animated series Win or Lose, saying “many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects” with their kids

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Sources: Disney worried that it had a flawed case in Trump's ABC lawsuit, and fighting it could hurt the Disney brand and damage press protections for others

Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Letter: The Scott Trust's deal to sell the Observer to Tortoise came despite a last-minute bid from Ecotricity founder Dale Vince to thwart the deal

 
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